Industry leaders amass great wealth in two ways: They act on an idea that revolutionizes the market and know the business principles necessary to turn the idea into a thriving company. Some business owners appear to possess a sense of intuition regarding competition and management. Others, however, become business savvy through years of experience and trial and error. Regardless of a person’s background, becoming more business-minded as a small-business owner is possible by adopting certain traits and characteristics.

1. Assess your business from the customer’s perspective. Imagine yourself in the consumer's position as this individual first hears about the product through the business’s marketing materials, goes through the shopping experience either in person or online, purchases the product and uses it. Take note of which procedures seem redundant or cumbersome for the individual.

2. Enlist the help of a person entirely unfamiliar with the industry, company and product and have the person engage in this procedure from start to finish as a way of getting a fresh pair of eyes on the business.

3. Use well-known business metrics to assess your business. Allocate an hour to perform a SWOT analysis to measure the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Undergo a PEST analysis to measure the company’s political, economic, social and technological hurdles. Robert Chapman explains in the book “Simple Tools and Techniques of Enterprise Risk Management” that this type of analysis helps businesses be more proactive and forecast successfully.

4. Think through the consequences of every business decision. Steven Strauss, author of the “The Business Start-Up Kit,” explains that thinking like a businessman entails evaluating risks and making calculated decisions. Many business decisions have unintended consequences arising from shortsighted decision-making. A way of avoiding these negative externalities is by holding strategy meetings with directors from various departments. People from different backgrounds often can identify how a decision negatively affects their work, department and the company as a whole.

Warning

Being more business-minded does not mean adopting the negative stereotype of being a cutthroat, ruthless mogul. Though J.D. Rockefeller made his fortunes through the exploitation of others and underhanded tactics, employing these tactics will cause difficulty in the long run: Your business will receive press in an era when consumers are increasingly conscientious of social responsibility, and competitors will conspire to undermine your business.

About the Author

Since 2008 Catherine Capozzi has been writing business, finance and economics-related articles from her home in the sunny state of Arizona. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in economics from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, which has given her a love of spreadsheets and corporate life.